On the Sea
by KOI Seracus
Summary: Back in the day type fic. Most characters from 02, excludes Miyako and Taichi. They may come later. Updated! Sorry for the delay. Plot still to come. Plot WILL come, I promise.
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or the cast. Darn.**

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AN: This is obviously an AU, so let me clear some things up right quick. Most all of the people in this chapter are about the same age and in their twenties somewhere. 'Girlfriends' are not the girls you are dating, it's what girls called their companions (Girl friends. Friends who are girls. Get it?), and the 'starboard side' is the right side of a ship.**

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"Madam, we should be going below deck," Takeru Takaishi suggested tentatively, glancing over the rail at the ship nearing them and moving to direct his brown haired companion to the hatch that lead to the crew's sleeping quarters. Under ordinary circumstances, the idea of going to such a vile place would have been absurd, but the situation was dramatically less than usual. Lacking a crew to pollute the room, or to cause any sort of threat to the youth's feminine charge, the crew's quarters seemed a rather safe place to be at the moment.

Unfortunately, the young woman thought differently. Practically marching to the side of the ship, she yanked a handkerchief from a fold in her skirts and waved it at the approaching vessel.

"This ship has no crew, Master Takaishi," she stated. "She has no captain. Aside from you, your comrades, my girlfriends, and myself, she is deserted. Now as I see it, we have two options. We can either accept that whatever happens to us when this other ship gets here will be our fate, be it good or bad; or we can hide below deck and slowly starve to death." She paused momentarily to let her point sink in. "Personally, I'd rather take my chances and see what happens."

Takeru nodded, mentally chiding himself for not having thought of that himself. "Very well," he murmured, bowing slightly. As soon as he came up, he moved to the wooden hatch located near the ship's center. Lifting the heavy boards from their frame, he called down to his companions, "Collect our things and gather on deck. There's a ship approaching."

"Wouldn't it be wiser to stay down here then?" someone called back.

"Lady Yagami wishes to take her chances."

There was a slight pause, and then the sound of the men packing their belongings into boxes. Takeru smiled at the sound, grateful that none of his companions had pressed the issue further. Moving back beside his charge, he clasped his hands behind his back and gazed at the quickly advancing ship, trying to look less nervous than he felt. Beside him, Lady Hikari Yagami smiled lightly.

"We will be late to port, won't we?"

"If we ever get there, Madam," Takeru replied. "If we ever get there."

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Daisuke Motomiya leaned out of the crow's nest, his russet eyes scanning the deck below. Crewmembers hurried about the ship; some carrying supplies, some tending to the sails, and a few simply wandering around. One man, a young brunette with piercing blue eyes and an easy smile, slipped out of the captain's quarters. Gesturing with his right arm, Daisuke called to him.

"Mr. Hawkins, sir!" When the man tilted his head back to acknowledge him, Daisuke pointed to something in the distance. "A ship, sir," he called down. "She seems to have dropped anchor."

"Can you spot the crew?" the man on the deck questioned, turning in an effort to sight the ship.

Daisuke lifted his spyglass, an ancient thing given him by his grandfather, and directed it toward his target. "No, sir. I can mark a few people on the deck, facing us, but nothing else. They seem to be waving to us, sir!"

Mr. Hawkins nodded and started back to the captain's quarters, calling to Daisuke to keep a sharp eye on the ship.

Shutting the heavy door behind him, Mr. Hawkins directed his attention to a small writing table in the corner. A young man sat behind that desk, his eyes downcast as he looked over a wide assortment of papers. He muttered curses as he looked from one sheet to the next.

"Sir?"

The man glanced up at the voice, a slight grin touching his features as he recognized his first mate. "James. Please, come in." He gesture to a seat opposite him. A frown returned to his face as Mr. Hawkins sat down. "We seem to be in a slight bit of a bind," he murmured. "Our friend, Mr. Inoue in Fukuoka, has gone out of business for the next year or so. Apparently, someone destroyed his crops and broke into his storehouse. Stripped it clean."

"In a word, then, we will be forced to buy from someone else," Mr. Hawkins paraphrased for himself. A frown started to settle on his face as well. "Lovely. The cheapest shop in Kyushu, and some good-for-nothing feels the need to ruin it."

"In a word," the captain agreed.

Mr. Hawkins scowled at the floor for a bit before his head snapped up. "I forgot my purpose," he stated laughingly. "Mr. Motomiya spotted an anchored, crewless ship not too distant from us. He says there are people on board, however, and they seem to be waving to us."

The captain rose from his seat. "Crewless?" he repeated, his shock evident in his voice. Snatching his spyglass from where it stood on the corner of the desk, he walked with his first mate out of the room and onto the deck.

"Where is this ship?"

"Starboard side, sir."

The young man nodded and faced the given direction, lifting the spyglass to his eye. After a few moments, he lowered the instrument and simply gazed out at the water. "Mr. Motomiya," he barked abruptly, startling every man near him. From above, he heard Daisuke yell back in acknowledgement. Handing his spyglass to James Hawkins, he continued to speak to the man in the crow's nest.

"Can you see the people on deck clearly?"

"Aye, sir."

"Tell me, do they strike you as women?"

There was a pause as Daisuke looked back at the ship. "Aye, sir. Some of them."

Dark locks waved as the captain shook his head slowly, thinking. The men wee already on a tight ration; he didn't wish to be forced to spread their tiny supply of food more than he already had. However, he couldn't justify knowingly passing a helpless ship with women on board.

"Will we be picking them up, sir?" Mr. Hawkins asked hesitantly, fully aware of the bind his captain was in. Either the man would risk the wrath of his men, or face the wrath of his conscience. "Sir?"

The dark haired young man sighed. "Aye. Mr. Hawkins, have us approach the ship. But mind you,"" he added quickly, "have the men ready fro whatever should happen."

"Aye, sir."

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AN: One person in this is not from Digimon. Any guesses where he is from? (BTW – I don't own that either.)


	2. Chapter Two

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AN: ^_^ Look-y! chapter Two! It's actually here! I told you (bio page) that I was working on these! Ha ha! Now all I have to do is update e the other two or three fics I have. sigh Until then, could you all be so kind as to read what I already have? I don't wasn't to sound desperate, but I really do like to know that people are reading my fics. I like it if they like them too, but if you don't, could you still review and tell me what I can change to make you like them?

Until then, enjoy this one. Try. If you've come this far, there must be something you like. ^_^

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I didn't change anything on this from when I first posted it (and no one reviewed sniffle). Just fixed a few spelling and grammar mistakes, is all. But, hey, maybe this time someone will review? Please?

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Mr. Hawkins gazed at the little boat pushing off to approach the apparently abandoned ship. He couldn't help thinking the captain had made a mistake agreeing already to take her remaining inhabitants aboard. It was no secret that the crew was on short rations, and there was little chance of them restocking any time soon. Besides that, there was no room for another dozen people. And ladies would be in need of a separate sleeping quarter altogether.

"Where will we be putting them, sir?"

"With the rest of you, below," the captain replied, his pale eyes pointed at the sky.

Mr. Hawkins nodded. "And the women?"

"They will sleep in my quarters," the younger man answered instantly, a planned response. "I'll stay below as well. But we will not be needing to worry about that for some time yet. There's a storm coming--I can see the clouds even now--and we will all be busy trying to keep this ship afloat." He smiled thinly and turned to his first mate. His vice dropped to something close to a whisper. "You think I am wrong for taking them, James?"

Looking into the man's eyes, Mr. Hawkins knew better than to answer the question truthfully, if he dared to answer at all. He had only served under Mr. Ichijouji for about a half dozen years, yet he knew him almost as well as he knew himself. And yet he could not read the expression on the man's face. Stress was a likely guess, but he had seen the captain frazzled before, and his face had been different. More possible that he was already regretting, perhaps hanging his decision on what the first mate replied.

Mr. Hawkins did not want the responsibility of playing God. He did not want the burden of condemning the people on the other ship to death. So he did not say anything.

Mr. Ichijouji accepted the silence without comment. Dropping his gaze back to the small boat, he noted briefly that it had almost reached its destination. Soon, his ship would be overloaded with people. He sighed. He had never liked being crowded by people. When he had first put a crew together, just after he bought his first ship, he had struggled to keep his crew as small as possible. His own stubbornness had settled the matter in the end, by some of the doubtful ones leaving without ever setting foot on the ship, leaving behind only those willing to chance the lack. They were some of the best crewmen he had ever seen, triumphing over obstacles he had seen larger crews fail at.

He had been lucky. It was quite possible they could have failed. He had gambled with their lives and his own, and had won; but it may not have turned out so well. And he had not given any second thoughts to it. He had been determined not to fill his ship, his pride and glory, so full with men that they could not stand each other. He refused to crowd himself in a place he had earned with his own sweat and blood so he could be free. He had been that resolute.

And yet, here he was, accepting who knew how many people onto a smaller ship that was already cramped. And all for the simple fact that there were women involved. His cousin would be furious, he knew, and he was grateful she preferred not to travel with him. Otherwise she would be swooping down on him that very moment like God's fury and chiding him for thinking of women as 'lesser beings.'

He chuckled and moved away form the bowsprit, towards his quarters. He would have to clear some things out before turning it over to a flock of females to be theirs until they docked.

"Mr. Hawkins, if I could employ your aid?" he called over his shoulder, and the other man hurried to catch up to him.

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"Lady, are you sure this is wise?" The young woman glanced hesitantly at the men helping lift their belongings onto the deck, near where they had roped their boat. They had scaled the side of the shop, since there had been no sort of ladder in sight and the men had insisted on moving quickly, and since had been in and out of the crew's quarters, heaving out boxes with no great ceremony.

Mimi Tachikawa cringed as a box she knew for a fact contained some of her best china was tossed out of the hole in the deck and crashed against the boards. She suppressed the desire to scold whoever it was that had so carelessly thrown the fragile box, afraid that she would end up face to face with the crew of their rescuing ship. The men were strangely rough looking to her eyes, and she had no desire to speak to any of them, much less make one mad.

The lady only smiled at her companion's concern. "If we do not go with them, we will never survive," she reasoned. "We'll simply sit on this Godforsaken boat until we all starve to death or worse."

One of the men, a smallish redhead, interrupted the conversation before Mimi could ask what could possibly be worse than starving.

"Ma'am," he called, approaching the two women slowly. "I'm sorry, Miss, but our ship will not hold all of this. I'm afraid some of it will have to be left here." He stared at his hands, wringing them together nervously. He certainly would not have liked to have been told that some of his belongings would have to be abandoned, and he despised being the one to inform them, but that was the reason he was sent along. He had his share of strengths, and lifting things was not one of them. However, he was wonderful at anything mathematics related; and determining how much extra weight their ship could carry was certainly as necessary estimation.

He glanced up at the two women, meeting the expected horror stricken face form one of them. The other, a shorter brunette in a dress that he assumed was slightly more fine, only looked a bit torn. She bit her lip and glanced at the boxes crowding the deck.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. 'I should have known that. Oh, this may take some time, I'm afraid." She looked back at him with a more hesitant gaze than his had been. "Would it be alright if we search through them briefly? I assure you, it will not take overly long."

"Of course." Turning on his heel, Koushiro Izumi hurried back to his fellow crewmates, calling them away from the boxes. The group moved to the stern to wait for the women and their escorts--as their male companions were assumed to be. As they settled onto the deck, Koushiro's eyes swept over his companions. He had expected them to start a conversation the moment they sat down, if not earlier, but they were sitting quietly, their eyes focused on the seven people that would be returning to their floating home with them. Their eyes held mixed emotions that he could not fully process.

One man, a huge fellow with curly black hair matted to his head under his bandana, spoke up. His voice was a low, harsh whisper as he stated his concerns. "What do you suppose happened to her crew?" There was a short silence before the rest of the men began voicing their thoughts.

"Perhaps they couldn't stand the idea of spending one more day with these pansies, and they drowned themselves."

"I could understand that."

"It's likely they just died. Caught ship's fever or some other sort of plague and died. These girlies here probably hid in their own private quarters and didn't get the disease. Spared them. Even now, the bodies of the crew are rotting somewhere on this here ship."

"Here's to a good tale!"

"It is possible."

"Aye. But more possible is the thought that they simply ran out of food, and starved to death."

"And the pansies?"

"Not so loud, man! What if they should hear you?"

"May I be struck down before I have to hear a single woman's complaint! …What do you think, man?"

A small young man, the youngest of the group and of the entire crew, sat crouched down a bit behind the men. His knees were pulled up to his chest, and his thin arms wrapped around them to keep them there. He seemed uncomfortable to around such a group, though he lived with them in the crew's quarters, the same as anyone else. Koushiro wondered why exactly the captain had sent him along.

In any case, the little man looked up as he realized he was the one being addressed. He looked at each of the faces pointed at him and stated simply, "It's bad luck to have a woman on board."

There was another bout of silence as the men processed his words, fear flashing across several faces. Finally, one man raised his hand as though holding a glass to make a toast and declared quietly, somberly, "Here's to that."

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Disclaimer: I own everything! All of it. I even own you as you sit there reading this line. I have total control. Watch: you obeyed. Move your eyes from left to right. HA! See that? You are obeying my every command! Now review. … … … … Um… Okay, so I don't have total control. Darn.


	3. Chapter Three

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AN: Okay, here it is. Chapter Three. It's about time, huh? Sorry for the wait. I'm trying to get the details figured out a bit more as I go, and it's taking a bit of time. Also, I know that the plot is going slowly… glances at the three existing chapters …VERY slowly. But it'll get better once I know exactly where this is going. Until then, enjoy!

Lady Hikari Yagami curtsied to the man before her, her eyes fixed on his face. She had expected to meet with a man equally as rough looking as his crew, and she was rather shocked to see the young captain clean-shaved, well dressed, and otherwise well groomed. His jacket looked as though it could have been n better condition, but that was only to be expected. It was certainly much cleaner than the captain she had set sail under had kept his. His expression was also significantly more pleasant, though still slightly troubled.

"I should like to thank you, sir," she stated softly, coming up from her bow, "for allowing us to come aboard. Doubtless, it is a cumbersome responsibility, and we shall do our utmost to ensure that we do not become too heavy a burden to you an your crew."

The captain stared at her for a bit, before a slight grin touched his lips and he shook his head. "You'll be no trouble at all, lady. As it is, we would have been forced to return to port soon to restock. I am sure you will find a ship more suited to your status there that can take you to your destination. Until then, lady, I fear I must ask you to make do with what little we have to offer you."

Lady Hikari smiled and swept into a second curtsy. Behind her, she was aware of her companions and escorts also bowing to the young man. Undoubtedly, they were only acting on an instinct to follow her lead. Previously, they had likely been gazing in utter horror at the ship. She herself had only restrained form doing so herself when the captain emerged form his quarters and met them on deck. The vessel was diminutive when compared to anything else any of them had ever boarded, and far less grand. It had probably not been looked after in quite some time. Still, they had a better chance at surviving an ocean voyage on this ship than on the large one they had been rescued from.

"We are most grateful."

Koushiro Izumi attempted a smile tat the man settling in beside him. The captain had, as he had told Mr. Hawkins, moved the women into his quarters and their male companions into the crew's quarters below. He would also be joining them, although he had not yet come down. Koushiro honestly doubted he would actually come down any time. After gaining only four extra bodies, the place already seemed overcrowded. There would be little room for the captain to stake out as his own, and none of the crew had bothered to do so for him. They cared for him well enough, but they had been more concerned with figuring out their new companions.

The man grinned back and tried to ease himself onto the hammock that would serve as his bed until they reached a port. His efforts were in vain, and the rope web flipped him over, dumping him on the floor in an ungraceful heap.

Koushiro chuckled. "Having a little trouble, aren't you?" Reaching over, he hauled the little blonde to his feet, laughing again at his clumsiness. Obviously, the man had not yet accustomed himself to the ship's rolling.

"We had proper beds on the Hyougo," the blonde stated simply as he dusted off his trousers. He was still in shock at the amount of dust that had managed to accumulate in a room that was always occupied by at least a few people. Glancing up at the individual who had helped him to stand again, he was reminded that the people who occupied the room were not the cleanest in the world either. The redhead was clad in what looked like rags. His pants and shirt were almost the same shade of brownish-gray, and his boots were on the edge of falling apart. His hair had likely not been touched with a comb in at least a month, and even his skin was dirty.

The man looked like a street urchin, and the blonde had to suppress a shudder at how he would probably look by the time the ship came to port. Instead, forcing away his repulsion, he extended a hand towards the dirty being with whom he would be forced to live for the next few weeks.

"I am Willis Jackson. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Mr. Jackson. My name is Koushiro Izumi," the redhead replied, shaking his hand with a rather firm grip before turning to his own hammock and climbing in without any effort at tall. Pulling an equally filthy looking blanket up to his chest, he drifted to sleep.

Mr. Jackson stared at the sleeping man for a moment. He thought back to what the ship's captain had said when accepting the group on board. It certainly was the truth, there was little being offered and they would have to learn to manage. Turning away in disgust, he glanced about the rest of the crew's quarters, unconsciously noting that there did not seem to be enough hammocks to suit the amount of crewmembers, much less four extra men and the captain. He was not aware of the brunette descending the ladder behind him.

"Am I correct in assuming that you are unfamiliar whit such a sleeping arrangement?" Mr. Hawkins asked, stepping beside the young escort. He had seen the man's expression as he looked at Koushiro, and it angered him. However, he refused to act upon his emotions. It was nothing new for him to see upper class individuals looking down on their hard working counterparts, and he had long ago taught himself to work around his fury. Caught on the same ship with seven wealthy persons, he would have no choice but to ignore their cold-heartedness.

Mr. Jackson nodded shortly, not sparing the first mate a glance. "I think perhaps remaining on the Hyougo despite its lack of a crew would have been preferable," he mused aloud. Shrugging his shoulders lightly, he spun on is heel and headed towards the ladder, intent on avoiding the crew's quarters -- as well as the crew -- for as long as possible.

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AN: There's chapter three. I told you I'd do it, so there! I hope you enjoyed it, despite how short it seemed this time. Sorry. Please review and tell me what you thought. If you have any suggestions, or requests, you could put it in a review or -- for those of you who like privacy -- you can e-mail me. I'd be grateful for any ideas, even if I don't get to use them in this exact fic.

Does Willis have a Japanese name dub? And does he have last name? I don't remember, it's been a while since I saw the movie. If you know, can you tell me so I can change it? Arigato. Oh, and I'm sorry if I offended any Willis fans by making his character the way I did, but I wanted a snob in there somewhere.


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